Madagascar media outlets raided during political crisis

New York, March
10, 2009--The Committee to Protect Journalists condemns Saturday's
ransacking of a TV and radio broadcaster by security forces in the Indian Ocean
island of Madagascar. The raid was part of ongoing
government efforts to censorindependent media coverage
of political unrest, stemming from a bitter power struggle between
opposition leader Andry Rajoelina and
President Marc Ravalomanana.

On Saturday, more
than 50 armed soldiers and police surrounded the studios of Viva, a broadcaster
owned by Rajoelina, in the capital, Antanarivo, according to local journalists.
Lalatiana Rakotondrazafy, a
political commentator with Viva Radio told CPJ she had just completed a live
telephone interview with Rajoelina minutes before fleeing the attack. Rajoelina
announced he had gone intohiding
due to safety
concerns, according to local journalists and media reports.

Security
forces seized the station's transmitter, computers, and destroyed equipment
including mixing consoles, microphones, and journalists' files. Soldiers also raided the adjoining offices of Injet, a
communications firm owned by Rajoelina, she said. Sobika, a France-based Malagasy
diaspora news Web site, published photos
of the unfolding attack, snapped on a mobile phone in real-time on Saturday.

Tensions between Rajoelina, the former mayor of the capital,
and Ravalomanana surged in December after the government summarily
closed down Viva Radio in December. In retaliation, opposition protesters burned down the
facilities of two
pro-government broadcast companies in January.

Another broadcaster, TV Plus, which has broadcast live
images of opposition demonstrations, was
nearly stormed by armed supporters of the president on Monday afternoon,
according to local journalists. Onitiana Realy, the station's editor-in­-chief,
told CPJ the station was surrounded
while staffers were preparing the evening news bulletin. Police arrived in time
to stop the raid, she said.

Radio Antsiva has been operating from an undisclosed location since
Monday afternoon, according to Program Director Valerie Ranaiveson. The station received aformal
warningon March 3 issued by Communications Minister
Bruno Andriantavison over programs that the minister said "tended to incite to
civil disobedience and undermine the public's confidence in national institutions."

"Viva,
TV Plus, and Radio Antsiva must be allowed to carry out their work without
hindrance by the government at this crucial political moment," said CPJ's Africa program coordinator, Tom Rhodes.

The incidents prompted TV Plus and Radio Antsiva, which
has aired round-the-clock live coverage of deadly
demonstrations, to move their equipment and operations to safer locations,
according to local journalists.

Radio Antsiva
reported the next day that it
was receiving complaints from listeners unable to hear the station,
according to local news reports. The
station has been experiencing difficulties broadcasting programs on its
frequency because of ongoing scrambling, according to Ranaiveson. Antsiva filed
a complaint with the Ministry of Communications on Monday, she said.

"We call
on authorities to cease all jamming of radio signals and ensure the immediate
return of equipment confiscated from Viva Radio," Rhodes
said.

Journalists from Viva Radio, which briefly returned to the air on Sunday by
using a makeshift transmitter and a different frequency, and TV Plus also told CPJ they were also
experiencing ongoing scrambling of broadcasts.